All matches live and in High Definition; ESPN3 to Simulcast all Matches in English and Spanish on ESPN3
All 31 Matches on ESPN Deportes – 27 Live; Extensive Surround Programming on ESPN Deportes
ESPN networks will combine to televise more than 200 hours of live coverage of the UEFA European Football Championship 2012™ beginning Friday, June 8, through Sunday, July 1, in eight cities across Poland and Ukraine.
ESPN Deportes, the company’s Spanish-language sports network, will lead the three television networks (ESPN and ESPN2) with 106 hours of programming featuring 27 live matches and four tape-delayed telecasts on concurrent match windows. ESPN will present 22 matches and surround programming – pregame, halftime and postgame shows – totaling 62 hours, and ESPN2 will feature 33 hours of coverage with nine matches and surround programming, all live.
All 31 matches will be available in high definition and carried on ESPN3, WatchESPN, ESPN Deportes Radio, and 25 matches live on ESPN Mobile TV. This will be the first time the UEFA European Football Championship will be available on ESPN Deportes HD.
This will mark the most comprehensive coverage of the three-week competition in the United States. In 2008, ESPN2, ESPN, ESPN Classic and ABC combined to present live all 31 matches of the UEFA European Football Championship. ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language home of the championship, also televised all 31 matches – five on tape-delay. Key programming highlights:
PREGAME, HALFTIME AND POSTGAME SEGMENTS
For the first time, ESPN match telecasts for the UEFA European Football Championship will include pregame, halftime and postgame studio segments. The pregame segments will include the teams walking onto the pitch, the national anthems and ceremonial handshakes – all symbolic traditions of signature international soccer competitions.
- ESPN/ESPN2: Every ESPN and ESPN2 match will feature a 15-minute pregame, halftime and a postgame shows. The opening and final matches will each have a 30-minute pregame program. ESPN’s flagship news and information program SportsCenter will air in-between matches on weekdays with two match windows.
- ESPN Deportes: The Spanish-language home of the UEFA European Football Championship 2012 in the United States will provide the most-comprehensive coverage of the event with more than 6.5 live hours on days with two match windows, from June 9 – 15. Highlights include a 30-minute pregame show beginning at 11:30 a.m.; a halftime program; a 30-minute program aired in-between matches; and a special one-hour postgame edition of Fuera de Juego at 5 p.m. Daily coverage will be on ESPN Deportes SportsCenter at 6 p.m., Juego Cruzado at 7 p.m. and Cronometro at 7:30 p.m. On opening day, Friday, June 8, the pregame program will expand to one hour beginning at 11 a.m., and on Sunday, July 1, the title match will be preceded by a 90-minute pregame show. (Note: On days with single match windows, coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET)
- ESPN Deportes programming vice president Freddy Rolón discussed the network’s planned coverage of UEFA EURO 2012 on ESPN Front Row.
ESPN3
ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network will provide live online simulcasts of all 31 matches in Spanish and English. The service will also feature ESPN and ESPN2’s English-language presentation of live pregame, halftime and postgame segments, as well as ESPN Deportes’ live surround programming around the 31 matches.
Additionally, all 31 matches will be archived and can only be accessed on ESPN3 through July 31, 2012, and non-exclusively through the end of the calendar year (Dec. 31, 2012). All matches will be available for replay on ESPN3 shortly after completion.
ABOUT UEFA EURO 2012
With 13 of the 16 national teams in the championship ranked among top 20 teams in the FIFA World Rankings, the UEFA European Football Championship is arguably the most prestigious and competitive international soccer tournament in the world. The first championship was in 1960, hosted by France.
Teams representing the 16 nations compete in the Championship. Of these, 14 earned spots in the three-week tournament following a two-year qualification process among 50 UEFA member nations while the host nations – Poland and Ukraine – received automatic berths.
Current 2010 FIFA World Cup champion, Spain, won the last European Championship – UEFA EURO 2008 – hosted by Austria and Switzerland.
UEFA EURO 2012 – Groups:
| GROUP A | GROUP B | GROUP C | GROUP D |
| Poland (#70) | Netherlands (#3) | Spain (#1) | Ukraine (#59) |
| Greece (#14) | Denmark (#10) | Italy (#8) | Sweden (#18) |
| Russia (#13) | Germany (#2) | Republic of Ireland (#20) | France (#17) |
| Czech Republic (#29) | Portugal (#6) | Croatia (#9) | England (#5) |
Key matchups in the group stage:
- Netherlands vs. Germany (Wed., June 13 at 2:45 p.m.): Traditional European rivals and two of the top teams in the world playing in the second of three matches in Group B – the tournament’s “group of death”.
- Spain vs. Italy (Sun., June 10 at 12 p.m.): A matchup between the last two FIFA World Cup champions in their first Group C match, where both teams are favored to advance.
- France vs. England (Mon., June 11 at 12 p.m.): Traditional powers in European soccer entering the tournament with a recent history of underachieving in marquee tournaments.
- Germany vs. Portugal (Sat., June 9 at 2:45 p.m.): Germany has beaten Portugal in their last two matches – at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2008. Each team needs a result in the first of their three Group matches.
Match schedule (Subject to change):
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Site | Networks |
| Fri, June 8 | 12 p.m. | Poland vs. Greece | Warsaw | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Russia vs. Czech Republic | Wroclaw | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes | |
| Sat, June 9 | 12 p.m. | Netherlands vs. Denmark | Kharkiv | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Germany vs. Portugal | Lviv | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes | |
| Sun, June 10 | 12 p.m. | Spain vs. Italy | Gdansk | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Republic of Ireland vs. Croatia | Poznan | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes | |
| Mon, June 11 | 12 p.m. | France vs. England | Donetsk | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Ukraine vs. Sweden | Kiev | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes | |
| Tue, June 12 | 12 p.m. | Greece vs. Czech Republic | Wroclaw | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Poland vs. Russia | Warsaw | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes | |
| Wed, June 13 | 12 p.m. | Denmark vs. Portugal | Lviv | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Netherlands vs. Germany | Kharkiv | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes | |
| Thu, June 14 | 12 p.m. | Italy vs. Croatia | Poznan | ESPN2 / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Spain vs. Republic of Ireland | Gdansk | ESPN2 / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes | |
| Fri, June 15 | 12 p.m. | Ukraine vs. France | Donetsk | ESPN2 / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Sweden vs. England | Kiev | ESPN2 / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes | |
| Sat, June 16 | 2:45 p.m. | Czech Republic vs. Poland | Wroclaw | ESPN2 / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Greece vs. Russia | Warsaw | ESPN / ESPN3 /ESPN Deportes at 5:30 p.m. | |
| Sun, June 17 | 2:45 p.m. | Portugal vs. Netherlands | Kharkiv | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Denmark vs. Germany | Lviv | ESPN2 / ESPN3 /ESPN Deportes at 5:30 p.m. | |
| Mon, June 18 | 2:45 p.m. | Croatia vs. Spain | Gdansk | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Italy vs. Republic of Ireland | Poznan | ESPN2 / ESPN3 /ESPN Deportes at 5:30 p.m. | |
| Tue, June 19 | 2:45 p.m. | England vs. Ukraine | Donetsk | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| 2:45 p.m. | Sweden France | Kiev | ESPN2 / ESPN3 /ESPN Deportes at 5:30 p.m. | |
| Thu, June 21 | 2:45 p.m. | Quarterfinal I – 1A vs. 2B | Warsaw | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| Fri, June 22 | 2:45 p.m. | Quarterfinal II – 1B vs. 2A | Gdansk | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| Sat, June 23 | 2:45 p.m. | Quarterfinal III – 1C vs. 2D | Donetsk | ESPN2 / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| Sun, June 24 | 2:45 p.m. | Quarterfinal IV – 1D vs. 2C | Kiev | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| Wed, June 27 | 2:45 p.m. | Semifinal I – Winners QF I vs. QF III | Donetsk | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| Thu, June 28 | 2:45 p.m. | Semifinal II – Winners QF II vs. QF IV | Warsaw | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
| Sun, July 1 | 2:45 p.m. | Final – Semifinal Winners | Kiev | ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes |
*** ESPN Deportes match coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
*** ESPN and ESPN match coverage begins at 11:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
SOCCER ON ESPN
ESPN is the home of premier soccer championship events and top league competitions from around the world. It is the English-language home of the Men’s and Women’s FIFA World Cup events in the United States through 2014, including the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup; and the exclusive English- and Spanish-language home of the UEFA European Football Championship™ 2012 and 2016 in the U.S. ESPN airs the Barclays Premier League and Spain’s La Liga in both English and Spanish across multiple networks and platforms, as well as matches on its digital and television platforms from other top leagues – Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, the Dutch Eredivisie, Portuguese Liga, Mexican Primera Division, Brazil’s Paulista Championship – and national domestic club competitions, including Copa del Rey, Coppa Italia and the French Cup. With top-level national team competitions, Major League Soccer, the nation’s premier soccer league, coverage of the U.S. National Teams, and the NCAA Men’s and Women’s soccer championships also part of its soccer programming, the ESPN portfolio represents arguably the most comprehensive commitment to the sport in the United States.
– 30 –